MEDIA RELEASE
Good prices for Ord’s tropical sandalwood
25 May 2009
Tropical sandalwood from Forest Products Commission’s research trials in Kununurra fetched above reserve prices at its auction at Harvey last Saturday (23 May).
In total the 1.745 tonnes of sandalwood in three lots – 20 year old wood, eight year old roots and eight year old sapwood – went under the hammer for $9,500.
The 20 year old sandalwood is the oldest tropical sandalwood to be harvested in Western Australia.
It is the first time tropical sandalwood has been included in the FPC quarterly auctions and attracted international bids.
FPC’s research manager for Kununurra, Dr Liz Barbour, was surprised the 20 year old wood, with its higher quantity of heartwood and the younger roots fetched a similar price.
The 585 kilogram 20 year old lot and the 580 kilogram eight year old lot sold for $3,400 each.
“This will to lead to larger consignments for auction as we continue our research,” Dr Barbour said.
Part of FPC’s research focuses on continuing the sustainability of the sandalwood industry through genetic conservation, genetic improvement and understanding genetic deployment systems. This work is designed to improve the yield and quality of sandalwood oil in the tree.
More than 100 people attended the auction and bidding was fierce with nearly all lots sold on the Saturday for a total of $84,000.
“Overall this has been a good year for our auctions with consistently high interest and good prices, particularly for products where we have value added,” said FPC speciality auctions co-ordinator, Steve Davis.
“We have sold more than $289,000 worth of timber in the last four auctions and we expect the quality and supply of products to continue.”
The next FPC auction at Harvey Mill, 64 Weir Road will be held on 15 August.
Downloads
- Conference puts tropical forest research in the spotlight - 32kb PDF (19/04/2009)
